PE Class Adventures
by Konoboe
Summary: This is my first story! Marinette and Adrien have some fun with cross country training, and then dance class. Prepare for some fun sewing times, a couple of accidents, and who knows, maybe a reveal maybe not...
1. Chapter 1 - The First Run

Chapter 1 - The first run

 **Chapter 1**

Marinette sighed as she followed Alya to the change rooms. She found it frustrating how she had perfect physical abilities as Ladybug, but as Marinette she could barely catch a ball. Every time they played sports it always went badly for her. When her class did athletics, she tripped on the edge of the sandpit and landed face first in the sand, getting it through her hair and clothes. When they played soccer she managed to avoid the ball and was succeeding in her own private game of dodgeball, until she got distracted by the beautiful Adrien and the ball hit her in the face.

As well as her limited Marinette ability, it was the PE outfits that she despised. When she was Ladybug, although she wore the fairly tight latex suit, at least her face was covered and no one had to know it was her. Here, she had to wear shorts and a uniform shirt that was just one size too big, and didn't look good on anybody. As an aspiring fashion designer, the simple design brought tears to her eyes, and no matter how much she longed to alter it she couldn't for the sake of her grades.

At the moment they were in the middle of their cross country unit, where they ran for kilometers on end. In previous years Marinette had hated this unit, but since becoming Ladybug her fitness had improved amazingly and running was one of the few units that she could actually succeed in because it required the least technical skill. Perhaps this was going to be the one unit where she wasn't going to get any more injuries and mess up in front of everyone.

She and Alya fought their way through the crowded doorway to the girls' change room, gagging slightly on the deodorant fumes left from the class before. Marinette reluctantly hung up her bag on a vacant hook and slowly began taking out her uniform.

'Come on girl, no time to waste! We took so long getting here we're going to be late for class, so hurry up because I'm not waiting!' Alya ordered as she ripped off her shirt and quickly threw on the PE one.

'Alright, but unlike you I have some modesty.' Marinette shot back as she ran to the changing stalls.

When they walked out of the room, they headed towards the corner of the gym where their class had gathered. Some of them, like Alex and Kim, were always there on time and really got into the sports, although their competitive natures often resulted in very intense games. Others, like Chloe and Juleka, never got changed and preferred to get a C or D than to participate. Marinette and Alya were from the group in between; they tried their best, but if they let the ball go past or forgot their uniform, then so be it. Their PE teacher, Ms Briant, smiled at them as they approached. She was one of their best PE teachers and even Marinette liked her, because she was always smiling and encouraged all the students to really do their best and enjoy the class.

'Good morning girls! Only a couple of minutes late this time, but as you're changed I won't complain.' She said as she winked at them. 'Alright everyone, today is Thursday and it's our last chance to get super strong and fast before the cross country carnival tomorrow, get excited!'

There were a few cheers from those closest to her, while the rest were just a bunch of muffled groans.

'We don't want you to get any injuries before tomorrow so for our last class on this subject you only have to do a light three kilometer run. It's just the usual course today: around the school and out to the park, then circle the park twice before coming back here. I will only be recording your time if you manage to beat your previous best, so it's really about doing your best and having fun! Everybody ready? Ok, go!'

The class began to move, with Kim and Alex out the front pushing each other to greater efforts in order to beat the other, with Adrien following casually behind.

Marinette watched him as he ran. He was so graceful, every step following a perfectly measured arc as his muscles in his legs were flexed with each landing, seen clearly below his shorts. His hair bounced on each step and caught the light beautifully, and he hardly seemed to be puffing.

'Marinette! Go girl, move it!' Alya pushed her from behind, causing Marinette to nearly fall onto the hard floor.

'Alright, I'm coming!' she sighed as she followed the class outside.

Adrien breathed deeply as he jogged towards the park. Usually he would run with Kim and Alex, but they were putting in extra effort today to try to beat each other, and he didn't want to get in the way. Besides, he'd already put a good time in and was certain he would get a good grade for this course, and he wanted to enjoy the lovely weather. He had left Nino behind though, which he briefly felt bad about, but then shrugged the feeling away. Nino didn't like running, preferring to give Adrien various mixtapes which he had arranged specifically for his best friend's run. He would wait somewhere near the building for Adrien to come back and tell him about his opinions on his music.

The sun was out and shining brightly, feeling warm on his skin. There were only a few clouds, looking like white balls of fluff as they drifted slowly across the sky. The breeze was gentle but kept him cool as he pushed on and arrived at the park. Alex and Kim had already finished their first lap of the park and were red faced and covered in sweat, desperately trying to beat the other as they ran past him. He ignored them and admired the pond in the middle of the park, taking a break to stroll leisurely past the water while he watched a mother duck with its babies, the cute little line of ducklings all following their mother across the pond and into a patch of reeds. He smiled at the sight and began jogging again.

He settled into his rhythm, hearing the crunch of gravel below his feet as he reached the park path. Left alone with his thoughts he began to think about his beautiful Ladybug again. They had seen each other last night during an akuma attack and had beaten them without having to use either Ladybug's Lucky Charm or Chat's Cataclysm, so had enough time to hang around and chat for a few minutes. They had strolled down a street together, strolling across the roofs and admiring the sunset and watching the street lights turn on.

Ladybug had stopped at the end of the row and stretched her arms up above her head, yawning as she did so.

Chat had grinned from his space beside her.

'Tired, my lady?' he purred, as he reached his arms up to give her a gentle neck rub. She smiled slightly as she gently pushed his arms away and took a small step to the side.

'It's ok kitty, I've just been doing extra running in my PE classes. That on top of these akuma attacks is just wearing me out.'

Chat nodded, 'I understand bugaboo, my class is doing cross country to prepare for our school carnival, and although I am paw-sitively cathletic already, it is almost too much for this poor feline.' He pulled an exaggerated pouty face as he looked at her.

Ladybug smirked at him as she reached up to gently scratch his ears. 'You poor thing, do you want to call it a night?'

Chat leaned into her hand as he put his hand up to rest it on top of hers. 'Never, my lady, when I am with you I am full of energy, and I wish that this night would never have to end.' Of course, his miraculous chose that moment to beep, signaling that he had 5 minutes to get back home before he transformed back into Adrien. Ladybug grinned wryly, 'Unfortunately, your miraculous seems to think otherwise. I'll see you next time, chaton.'

And with that, she had taken out her yoyo and swung off into the night. Chat kept his hand on his ear where she had touched him, watching her as she disappeared.

Adrien was still smiling as he ran, and couldn't help thinking about how perhaps Ladybug was also jogging along with her own class somewhere else in Paris. Or perhaps, if she was in his class, she was even running right now! He passed by the entry to the park as he completed his first lap, and saw Marinette and Alya getting close to the park. Alya was puffing slightly and her face was beginning to match the red colouring of her hair. She didn't seem to be letting this stop her talking to Marinette, who looked completely unfazed as she ran. Adrien found this interesting, how Marinette could be so calm while running.

He had always assumed that she was somewhat fit, but he had never seen her as someone who really got into sports. After all, since he had arrived at the school earlier that year, all he had seen of her in PE were her epic blunders. He grinned at the thought, remembering how he had helped her out of the sandpit and watched as her face turned bright red underneath the sand that coated it, and how she had sulkily spat out a mouthful of sand that she had accidently almost eaten when she landed.

'You know Marinette, you're supposed to land feet first, not head first? It's kinda one of the rules.' He had teased her. She had merely become even redder and quickly went to find Alya, and together they had gone off to the bathrooms to try and fix her clothes.

Adrien looked around now at the park, and wondered if there was any sand here. He saw a small bit around the pond and briefly considered once again teasing her with it, but he knew that his shy classmate would just become embarrassed again and he definitely did not want that. He looked at the gate now from the other side of the park and watched as she arrived, her hair bouncing in her pigtails on either side of her head, with her cheeks a light pink and her eyes alight from the exercise. _Damn she's cute_ , he thought as he watched, then almost tripped on a tree root on the path and quickly returned his attention to his route. He was mildly surprised at the thought, but then brushed it aside. Of course she was cute, no one could deny it. He would be a fool if he thought otherwise.

He was getting close to the exit of the park and decided to slow to a walk as he looked back at the girls again, ignoring the rest of his class as they started to shuffle past him and into the park. Alya was focusing on the ground in order to keep her focus on running, but Marinette was looking around and admiring the park, just as he had. He saw her also smile at the ducklings, and the way her eyes lit up made him stop where he was to watch. She turned to Alya and gave her a nudge and what Adrien assumed were some words of encouragement, as Alya laughed tiredly and looked up to smile at her. As she looked up she saw Adrien watching, and said something to Marinette, who also looked up. Adrien made eye contact with her for one second and panicked, not sure how to react. He found himself winking at her and got a thrill from her wide eyed stare, but continued panicking so quickly turned around and sprinted out of the park. Before he could see anything further. At least he had an excuse to run.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Fall

Marinette tripped.

Of all things, she was not expecting that wink. She hadn't expected to look up and see him looking at her at all, and then when he winked she felt her heart stop beating for just a second. Those beautiful green eyes were trained on her and she swore a breeze had just at that moment lifted his hair so it was almost like watching him model live. She had watched him in that moment with all of his perfection, and had watched him, as if in slow motion, as his left eye began to slowly close in a wink.

It reminded her so much of Chat that she froze in shock. Of course, freezing suddenly while running was not a good idea and she fell face first into the gravel.

Alya ran a couple more paces before she realized that her companion was no longer with her, and turned to see her sprawled in the dirt.

'Oh my god, Marinette, what happened? Did you trip? Are you ok?' Alya said, her voice getting higher and higher as she began to worry about her friend.

'Yeah I'm fine.' Marinette reassured her as she shakily stood up. Then she looked down at her knees and cringed, seeing the blood dripping down her legs. There were small rocks from the gravel stuck in her leg with a huge gash in her right knee. She had easily taken off a layer of skin and she watched as her right knee began as a sickly yellow colour, and pinpricks of blood popped up across the surface before blood began gushing out of it and down her leg and started to stain her shoes red.

Alya took one look at the knee and turned white.

'Oh man Mari, that's not good.' She gasped, taking a physical step backwards.

Marinette had faced many worse wounds as Ladybug unknown to Alya and she knew what to do.

'Alya, I'm going to need you to run ahead to get a first aid kit, ask Ms Briant where to get one. Nathaniel and Rose were just behind us and I'm sure they'll help me start to get there.' Alya hesitated for a second before saying 'Ok, alright, yep I'm going, are you sure you're ok?'

'Yes! Just go!'

Alya turned and sprinted as fast as she could out of the park, her cross country training combined with her practice in chasing superheroes to give her the strength and stamina she needed to save her friend.

Marinette checked her legs and took a couple of slow steps to see how well she could walk. She found it somewhat difficult, so decided to stay and lean against a nearby tree while she waved over Nathaniel and Rose, who had just run into the park after hearing about the situation from Alya. Nathaniel looked extremely worried, and Marinette blushed at the emotion on his face.

'M-marinette! Are you ok?' He blurted out as he ran up to her, his hands flapping around as he tried to figure out a way to help her without getting too close.

'I'm fine Nath, but would you mind helping me get to that seat over there?' Marinette said as she pointed to a park bench that was just on the other side of the tree. Nathaniel quickly put an arm under her shoulder and Rose went to the other side. There was a moment of panic for the two as they realised that Rose was too short to properly help Marinette, but Nathaniel solved the problem by simply lifting her up bridal style with one arm under her shoulders and the other supporting her injured knees. Marinette was surprised by his strength. Like herself, Nathaniel had never really stood out in sports, preferring to stand by and watch. But here he was now, lifting her easily and carrying her to the chair. And now that she was paying attention, she noticed that he too was hardly breathing hard even after running a kilometer. _There are so many darn fit guys in this class_ , she thought to herself. Not that she minded really. As he set her down gently on the chair, letting her sit sideways on it so she could bring her leg up as painlessly as possible, she leant back on him and closed her eyes to block out the pain. He stiffened and blushed as he sat down next to her to help keep her upright, gently stroking her hair to comfort her.

When she got an injury as Ladybug, the adrenalin plus the important mission of saving people was enough to let her continue moving as close to normally as possible. She figured that because she was merely being herself as Marinette and had no people to save, and perhaps because she was extra tired on that day, she was feeling the sting without any relief.

Marinette wished that Chat Noir were here with her. Even if his puns were super annoying to her most of the time, at least right now they might be able to distract her. And with his super strength, he could have carried her back to school already. With her eyes closed she imagined that Nathaniel was Chat, taking care of her and loving her in that special way of his. He would be standing right next to her, eyes filled with worry, trying to lighten the mood with various half-hearted jokes to make her smile. She smiled simply thinking of it. His hair would be shining with all this sunlight and he'd stroke her cheek and lean over her and his eyes…

Marinette opened her own eyes as a shadow covered her face, and she looked up to see those bright green eyes. She jumped slightly to see Adrien here, but as her view widened she relaxed as she realised it was Adrien. Which then made her tense up again at the thought. **_Only_** _Adrien?! I love Adrien, not Chat. Why am I not freaking out about how my true love is standing right here while I'm covered in blood and probably look like a mess?_ She quickly looked down at her knee and cringed. Adrien also looked down as he began speaking softly.

'Hey Marinette, Alya told me about what happened and I hope you're feeling ok. I brought some clean water so was can start washing the blood off you, Ms Briant will be here in a minute with the first aid equipment.' He gave her his usual smile, with the left corner raised just slightly higher, and Marinette felt as though her pain had suddenly left her. The boy of her dreams, here to save her? Yes please!

'T-thanks Adrien, k-kind that's you. I mean, that's kind you. Kind of you I mean.'

He raised an eyebrow and grinned.

'Glad to see you're still talking like usual, Mari.' He said, as he began rinsing the blood off her leg, smiling at Nathaniel who was glaring at him while still patting Marinette's hair protectively.

Nino stumbled up to the small group gathered around Marinette's chair, puffing and panting as he barely made it before kneeling on the ground beside her.

'Marinette! I… ran all the ... way here… you… ok?' He managed to get out.

Marinette smiled gratefully at her friend, recognizing that he had put in a lot of effort to get here.

'I'm ok, thanks for coming to check on me.'

He nodded awkwardly and gave her a half smile in return, glancing down at her knee which Adrien had just finished cleaning.

Ms Briant arrived at that moment with the first aid kit.

'Oh dear Marinette, look what you've done now! I think we'll have to get you back to the school before we can start properly bandaging you. Boys, can one of you help me carry her back?'

'I'll do it!' Nathaniel and Adrien said instantly, causing the redhead to flush as he glared once again at the blond out of the corner of his eyes. Adrien backed down, saying 'It's ok Nathaniel, you can do it, and just let me know if you need any help.'

Nathaniel nodded shortly at Adrien and quickly moved to help his teacher and Marinette.

Adrien watched as they carried her out, shaking his head to dispel whatever feeling was growing inside him. He looked over to Nino who was still hovering anxiously, and walked over to him and nudged him gently with his shoulder.

'Hey Nino, let's go back to the school?'

Nino nodded absently and began walking back with his best friend.

'She'll be fine man.' Adrien said, although he wasn't sure whether he said that to comfort Nino or himself.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Gifts

Marinette tried to listen to what Alya was saying, but wasn't successful. They were walking Marinette back to her house for lunch, but it was a slow process with her bandaged knee. In the end, once they'd managed to get back to the school and washed her up, the cut didn't look so bad. The school nurse had assured her that with proper rest and care it would be almost completely healed within the month.

However, unluckily (luckily?) this injury meant she wouldn't be able to participate in the school's cross country carnival the next day. It would be somewhat sad but she cheered herself up at the thought that instead of participating in the events, she would be able to encourage and support her classmates.

Each class had a special colour shirt made for the day to encourage better camaraderie between the students, and to boost competition between the classes. Marinette's class this year had the colour yellow, chosen by Chloe. Although at first she had shuddered at the colour (it wasn't that she didn't like it, she just knew that it was a very difficult colour to pull off and didn't look nice on some people), Marinette had been working on making some designs which they could pin onto their shirts. She was thinking about them at that moment as Alya continued talking about whatever she had seen with Ladybug and Chat Noir the other day.

Marinette had already cut out the pieces of material and fixed all the edges so they were ready to pin, all she needed now were some designs to put on them. _Hmm perhaps some sort of class symbol? Do we have one of those?_ She thought for a bit, trying to think of anything that could symbolize their class. There were akumas? Pretty much everyone in the class had been akumatised by then, the most of any class, and they were known as the 'class of akumas'. She knew that for some of the class, the symbol of the evil purple butterfly would make them feel quite uncomfortable. But perhaps the white symbol of the purified butterfly might work…it was beautiful and free, and flew much like how she was sure her friends would fly over the course. Plus, the material was already white and it wouldn't take too long to put a black outline of a butterfly on them. And maybe inside the butterfly she could decorate with each of her classmate's names and something that meant something to them. Marinette was thinking about how she could style Rose's with roses, when something Alya was saying caught her attention.

'…and it just confirms all the theories! Ladynoir is finally a thing!'

'What? How? When? What?!' Marinette choked out.

Alya rolled her eyes in exasperation at her friend.

'Why am I not surprised that you weren't listening?'

Marinette giggled awkwardly and flushed a little.

'Sorry Alya. What were you saying about Ladynoir?'

She hated that term so much but she knew that her friend loved it. And if Alya was happy, then she would be happy too. Even if it made her highly uncomfortable to hear about how people shipped herself with her partner.

'Well, as I was **saying** Marinette, last night my mum was driving me home and we were stopped at a traffic light and I looked up and saw our favourite superheroes standing on a roof and get this right, Ladybug had her hand on his head and he put his hand on hers and just yes.' Marinette almost tripped over the curb as they crossed the road near her house.

'The way they were looking at each other and how they were standing so close, I just KNOW that its FINALLY a thing Mari, they must have finally confessed their true feelings towards each other!' Alya concluded.

'But Alya, surely that doesn't mean anything?' Marinette said desperately, 'They are partners after all and just because they were together doesn't mean that they're together, together!'

Alya shook her head at her friend's naivety, 'Nope, it's definitely a thing, I saw it myself.'

Fortunately for Marinette, they had just reached her house which meant she could escape the conversation.

'Sure Alya, but I'll only believe you if you can give me definite proof.'

Alya grinned and gave her a quick hug goodbye, saying 'You're on Marinette, I'll get you that proof! Take care.'. And with that, she turned around and began walking to her own home.

Marinette opened the door to the entrance of the bakery, smiling at her parents as she shuffled through the store. Her parent's smiles quickly turned to frowns as they watched her awkward walk across the room, and her mother left her father at the counter serving customers as she walked over to Marinette.

'Marinette? What's wrong?' She said, then looked down at the bandage on Marinette's knee, now visible as she got closer. 'What have you done to your leg?!'

'It's ok maman, I just fell over today in PE class and the nurse said I'll be fine in a few weeks.' Her mother still looked worried, so she added 'Really, maman, I'm fine.'

Her mother gave her a wry half-smile, and nodded slightly.

'Well, I guess it's not your worst injury ever. But you should still be careful going up those stairs, and call me or your father if you need anything. And here, take these choc-chip biscuits your papa baked this afternoon, I know how much you love them!' She said, handing the plate of biscuits to Marinette.

Marinette returned her smile and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

'Thanks! I'll go eat these in my room!'

Her mother bustled back to the counter and Marinette continued on her way to her room, struggling somewhat with the final ladder leading to the trapdoor. When she finally got in, she shut the trap door and Tiki zoomed out of her bag and flew in circles around her while she set the plate down on her desk.

'Marinette! I know you keep saying you're ok, but are you sure? What if you've broken something?' She squeaked at Marinette worriedly.

Marinette held out her cupped hands, and Tiki flew into them and reached her arm up to rest on Marinette's cheek as Marinette brought her up closer.

'I'm really, truly ok Tiki. I've had way worse injuries before right? Sure they usually go away once I do the Miraculous Cure, but I've still had way worse pain. And besides, this will go away soon.'

Tiki acknowledged this and sat a little more peacefully in Marinette's hands.

'Actually,' she said, 'it may go away sooner than the nurse expects. As Ladybug you have to always be ready for danger so part of your power is actually sped up healing. And when you wear the suit, depending on the severity of your injury, you should still be able to do everything you usually would to fight akumas.'

Marinette grinned at her. 'See, Tiki? I'm going to be fine, there's no need to make such a fuss over me! Now, I need to start on those designs for tomorrow!'

Knowing she would be walking slower than usual, Marinette set off to return to school early and ended up being early for the first time in months. She was surprised to see a small box of chocolates and a rose on her desk waiting for her when she entered the room. Looking around the room, she could see that the only people there so far were Rose and Juleka, sitting in the back and chatting, and Nathaniel in his corner working on his drawing. As she was watching him though, he looked up and smiled at her. He glanced at the gifts on her desk and then back at her and blushed.

Marinette walked over to him.

'Hey Nathaniel, are those from you?'

'Y-yeah, I got them on my way back from lunch. They're get well presents. For you. To get better.' He managed to get out, blushing an even darker shade of red.

Marinette also blushed a light shade of pink, touched that he had thought of her.

'Thank you. But I don't really need that many chocolates to myself, want to share?' She walked back to her desk and grabbed the box and opened it, bringing it back to him. 'Here, you should have some! Not only did you buy me these, but you also helped me a lot when I was in a lot of pain, so just thank you a heap.'

Nathaniel mumbled a small thank you and no problem, and shyly took one out of the box.

At that moment Nino and Alya walked into the classroom, and Nino called over to Marinette.

'Hey, Marinette! How are you going?'

Marinette gave one last smile to Nathaniel and walked back to her desk to talk to her friends.

'Hey guys.'

Alya looked at her watch and pulled a fake expression of exaggerated surprise.

'Gee Marinette, you're here early! Perhaps you need to fall over every day to get here on time.' She said jokingly, but gently to let Marinette know that she was still concerned about her friend.

'You know Alya, I do fall over every day already! Just usually, I have the sense to land on grass and not rocks.'

Adrien walked into the classroom and joined them just as Alya gave a quiet snort at Marinette's humour. He moved over to his desk and put his bag down and smiled at his friends, glad to see that Marinette was there and smiling too. And if her face had enough blood to turn that red colour it usually became as it was becoming now, then that was probably a good sign too.

'I'm glad to see you're still here, Marinette.' He said to her, causing her to turn an even brighter shade of red.

'T-t-thanks. You're great. I-I mean, y-y-your was great help. This afternoon. Your help. Thanks.'

Alya subtly rolled her eyes at her best friend from behind and slightly to the right of Adrien and stepped in to help Marinette.

'Marinette, where did you get those chocolates from?' She said, to change the topic before the confused Adrien could translate what Marinette had said. To her surprise, Marinette smiled slightly, as she said 'Oh, they're from Nath.'.

Alya glanced at the shy boy sitting up the back, who was watching the conversation _and_ , she thought, _probably Marinette_. Everyone knew of his crush on her after the Evillustrator event so that was no surprise. But what was surprising to her was the way which Marinette had said his name. Was there affection there? She would have to grill her on that later.

Adrien also glanced over at Nathaniel and to his surprise he found himself wishing that he had been the one to think of a gift. After all, he was one of the richest teens in the class, and perhaps all of Paris, and he could have bought her something even better. And for the second time, he was surprised at himself. Why was he suddenly caring about Marinette? He had never really thought about them before and had always assumed that the two were eventually going to end up dating at some point, but now he didn't want that to happen. He realised that he didn't want Marinette to date Nathaniel, and that for some reason, he suddenly no longer liked the other boy. Was he perhaps…jealous?


	4. Chapter 4 - The Friendship Solution

Adrien packed his bag for the school carnival, making sure he had plenty of water and sunscreen. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and grimaced at the ugly shade of yellow of the shirt he was being forced to wear. A bit was ok but this was too much. Although he was a model and had to wear numerous different colours of clothing, he mostly tried to avoid the bright colour. He knew that yellow would wash him out just as it was doing now. His hair was already a pale yellow/blond colour so it didn't particularly stand out well, and his skin looked less perfect than usual as every red blemish on his face and skin suddenly stood out while his white skin seemed to look even paler than usual.

He knew that his many fangirls wouldn't notice and would probably still think he looked great, but for him it was awful. And his sulky facial expressions probably weren't helping either. Adrien forced his modelling smile onto his face, and decided to try to keep smiling throughout the day. Yellow was the colour of happiness, so he would try to be that.

Plagg zoomed up from the bed and snickered from behind him, causing Adrien to scowl again and lose the smile.

'You look beautiful kid, yellow is so your colour. Maybe I should change the colour of your Chat Noir suit?' Plagg said, before he was unable to contain his laughter anymore and burst out into full laughter.

Adrien's face grew darker.

'If you do that, Plagg, I will only buy you those flat packs of fake cheese that I know you hate.'

'Ohhhh not the fake cheese!' Plagg said sarcastically, although Adrien could hear some panic in his voice and noticed that he quickly stopped teasing him.

There was a knock on his door and Plagg dived into a pile of clothes nearby. Adrien walked over to the door and opened it to see Nathalie standing outside.

'Adrien, good morning.' She said, giving him a curt nod.

'Good morning Nathalie.' He replied, wondering what was bringing her to his room this morning. Usually, in the mornings he only saw her at breakfast when she gave him is daily schedule and when she said goodbye to him when he got into the limo. If she was here now that was usually a bad sign that he was in trouble.

'Your father wishes to speak with you. Be in his study in five minutes please.'

Adrien kept his face studiously blank and nodded.

'Ok, I'll be there. Thank you, Nathalie.'

She nodded once more and turned to walk back down the corridor, her heels clicking on the hard floor.

'I wonder what he wants?' Adrien said to Plagg as he shut the door behind her and finished packing.

Five minutes later he was standing outside his father's study door. His bag was packed and in the car with the waiting Gorilla. Adrien took a deep breath and knocked twice on the door. His father had told him that two knocks was the proper way for a gentleman to act. Apparently, one knock could be taken as an accident and so would be ignored, while three was an unnecessary time waster and showed an uncomely arrogance and tenacity. Any more than that, and Adrien shuddered to think of how his father would react.

'Come in.' Came the cold voice from inside.

Adrien opened the door and stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind him and walking up to stand exactly two meters away from the large desk. His father gave him a quick glance before setting down his IPad.

Adrien had always found these meetings highly uncomfortable. For starters, the word 'meeting' gave it a formal feel which he detested. Adrien was not allowed to get too close or his father would tell him off for invading his work space. Yet if he were to stand too far away he would also be told off for his timidity. His father seemed to loom above him from his desk while being still so far away. Adrien couldn't wait to get this over with and get to the carnival.

'Good morning, father.'

'Good morning Adrien. I have a serious matter to discuss with you.'

Adrien braced himself for whatever was about to happen.

'Your maid informed me that she found blood on your sports uniform yesterday afternoon when she washed it. Are you injured?'

Adrien was surprised that his father cared about this.

'No father, it's not my blood. I girl fell over and cut her knee and I assisted her.'

His father nodded as he folded his hands on his desk.

'I see. I was concerned we would have to reschedule your photoshoot tomorrow. I'm sure you meant well in helping that girl, but in future try to refrain from such things. You may be concerned that it will be seen as willful malice that goes against our code, but I assure you it is much worse to be seen with a shirt covered in blood. As an Agreste I expect much better of you.'

Adrien stared at his father in shock.

'But…she was hurt!'

'I understand that, but next time get someone else to help. Agreste's are above such filthy labour. Now, I understand you have a sports festival on today so I will allow you to leave. Be sure to shut the door properly behind you.' And he picked up his IPad and began working again giving Adrien a clear signal to leave.

Adrien did as he had instructed but took a moment to calm himself down out the front of the study before leaving the house. He sometimes forgot how callous his father could be when it came to other people, but it was times like these that he got a nasty shock and was brought back to the reality where his father was a cruel man. He began to walk slowly down the corridor to the waiting car with his head down and hands deep in his pockets, thinking about what his father had said.

Nathalie saw the downcast boy and spoke to him a little softer than usual, almost allowing some emotion to enter her voice.

'Take care, Adrien. Have a nice day at the carnival.'

He nodded absently to her and gave her a quick, mumbled 'Thanks Nathalie you too.' before getting into the car.

As the Gorilla drove them towards the school Adrien continued thinking about the events of the day before. To him it wasn't that big of a deal to help a friend out, and especially since he had become Chat Noir he was always ready to help any citizen. Helping Marinette had been no different and even as Adrien he had let slip a quick joking tease to keep her mind off the pain. When he thought about it he hadn't really done that much either in allowing Nathaniel to do most of the work.

Thinking of Nathaniel reminded him of his own feelings yesterday afternoon. He realised that thinking of Nathaniel now he felt no jealousy as he had done yesterday when he had thought about him and Marinette as a couple. He was puzzled by this for a moment but then realised what it must mean. Nino had sometimes sat next to Alya instead of Adrien once they started dating and Adrien had felt some of the same feelings then. And since he had then sat next to Marinette he guessed that he must also be feeling close to her, so when she started to pay attention to Nathaniel he was feeling her absence as another friend chose someone else to talk to instead of him. Adrien felt relieved that it wasn't some sort of permanent jealousy. He was sure that if he dealt with his emotions properly he would soon be fine with the concept of the two of them dating. He just had to do the same as he had done for Nino: tell himself that she would still be his friend, and just because she was dating someone didn't mean that she didn't care for him as a friend. After being alone for so long every friend was precious to him, but he knew it did not give him an excuse to be jealous, and as a nice guy he resolved to fix his insecurities.

Adrien then thought of another solution to solve his jealousy over Marinette. When Nino had started dating Alya he had introduced Adrien to her and ensured they had become friends so that he wouldn't feel too left out. If Marinette was going to eventually date Nathaniel then it would benefit Adrien to befriend him. Adrien brightened up at the thought and decided that he would work his hardest to make friends with the other guy.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Race

Marinette's parents dropped her off at the cross country field as she wasn't able to walk from the school like everyone else. They gave her a quick hug goodbye and left as she went to sign her name off with one of the teachers. Ms. Bustier was the teacher in charge of surnames A to E so Marinette walked over to her. She was also the teacher in charge of Marinette's class and she was also wearing the yellow shirt.

Ms Bustier smiled at Marinette as she walked over and looked at the roll in front of her to cross her name off.

'Good morning Marinette, I'm glad you could make it.'

'Good morning Madame. I-I've made some name things for our class shirts.' Marinette said as she reached into the bag she was carrying and pulling out the decorated material strip with 'Ms Bustier' written on it. She had made one for everyone in her class including their teacher and she was quite proud of them. She had been up until quite late making them and although they definitely weren't her greatest works ever, she was sure they would make people happy.

On Ms. Bustier's she had decorated her name with pictures of crayons and chalk and other school themed images. Her teacher's eyes lit up as she saw it.

'Wow Marinette! That is such a great idea, thank you very much!'

She reached out and gently took the one with her name on it.

'Would you mind helping me put it on?' She said, standing up so Marinette could pin it to the back of her shirt with the safety pins she had brought for that purpose.

When Marinette had finished she did a small twirl and sat back down, grinning at her student.

'Thank you Marinette. I'm sure your class mates will love these too!'

Marinette smiled back and blushed a little at the praise before going to the area designated for her class. She sat in one of the chairs and stretched her leg out, wincing a little at a twinge of pain but overall she was pleased with how little it hurt. Tiki was right, and the wound seemed to be healing very fast.

She had only been there for a minute when Alya and Nino turned a corner in the path and came into view. Marinette smiled and waved at them and they waved back, got their names marked off, and went to join her.

'Marinette! Good to see you girl. What's in the bag?' Alya asked, noticing the bag next to Marinette straight away.

'It's a few name things for you guys. I'll get yours.' Marinette said as she reached into the bag and dug out their personalized names. For Alya she had decorated it with cameras, laptops and ladybug spots. For Nino she had decorated it with a drawing of some headphones and music notes scattered throughout. They took each of theirs with delight and quickly helped each other put them on.

'I love it Marinette!' Alya exclaimed.

'Yeah, these are sweet man.' Nino agreed, trying to see his on his back by looking over his shoulder and slowly spinning.

'Thanks.' Marinette smiled, 'Hopefully with these our yellow uniforms won't look too bad.'

'Excuse me? Do you have a problem with yellow?!' Came a loud and bossy voice from behind Marinette.

Marinette turned to face Chloe, who was standing next to Sabrina. Both girls had their hands on their hips and were glaring at the three friends.

'Yeah Marinette.' Sabrina piped up, 'Don't you know Chloe chose this colour herself? It's the best.'

Alya came and stood next to Marinette and crossed her arms, facing the two girls.

'Yellow is a terrible colour to wear. I don't care who chose it, but the fact that you chose it makes it even worse.'

Chloe sniffed and glared at Alya.

'If you're worried that it doesn't suit you don't worry about it, because you look terrible anyway.'

Marinette didn't feel like holding Alya back from hurting the blond girl so she decided to try to change the topic.

'Hey you two, I made some decorations for the shirts if you want. Here.' And she brought out the two she had made for them.

Sabrina's eyes looked between the pretty piece of material with her name on it and Chloe, obviously wanting to take it but waiting to see what her leader would do. Chloe hesitated, also torn between accepting the gift and her selfish pride, before laughing scornfully.

'I don't need one of those, everyone already knows who I am. Come on Sabrina.' And she walked off before she could change her mind. Sabrina quickly moved to follow her, giving her name decoration one last, longing look.

'Well, she misses out then.' Came a boys voice from behind them. Nino, Alya and Marinette turned to see Adrien, who had approached silently just as the other two were leaving. He grinned at Marinette. 'Do I get one of those?'

Marinette nodded wordlessly, eyes wide, and scrambled through the bag causing a few to fall out. She triumphantly grabbed Adrien's and handed it to him, watching closely to see his reaction. He took it and smiled at the design. Marinette had spent the longest trying to decide what to put on his. She knew everything about him and it was difficult to narrow down. Eventually she had chosen a science theme with various test tubes, conical flasks and beakers filled with different colours. She didn't think it was the greatest design, but it was the best she could come up with at 1am.

Adrien didn't care what the design looked like, he was just pleased she had made him one. The fact that it was related to a subject he loved made it even greater and it helped him to recover from the negative emotions he had felt after speaking to his father this morning.

'This is great Marinette! I love it! Can you help me put it on?'

Marinette turned bright red at the thought of touching his back and sat stunned in her chair. Alya rolled her eyes behind Adrien and took the pins out of Marinette's hands, doing it instead of Marinette. Adrien didn't seem to mind though as he was still feeling too excited to notice.

Once it was on he pulled a few modelling poses, making Nino and Alya snort while Marinette blushed even harder. Then he looked up and saw Nathaniel about to sit down a few chairs away from them, and quickly waved the boy over. Nathaniel approached cautiously, unsure about why he was being called over.

'Hello, what's up?' he asked.

Adrien showed him the name on his shirt and spoke to Marinette.

'Hey Mari, what's Nathaniel's like?' He said to Marinette.

Nathaniel instantly glanced at Marinette and blushed.

'I-I get one t-too?' he stuttered in shock.

Marinette nodded, 'Of course you do! You're an important member of our class.'

Nathaniel's face went the colour of his hair and he looked like he was going to faint from happiness. Marinette handed him his own name tag and he took it and gazed at it for almost 20 seconds before he was able to speak.

'I love it.' He whispered.

Nathaniel's was possibly Marinette's favourite work. She had decorated the background with various art splotches, and instead of outlining the butterfly symbol in black like she had done with the rest of them, she had used a rainbow of different colours so the butterfly had more energy. She had also used Nathaniel's favourite cartooning style and drawn a small picture of him in the right corner.

Nathaniel struggled for a few seconds more and seemed to be about to say something more, when the other members of the class crowded around and began talking about the patterns they had each got. Marinette was in the middle of them, handing out the name tags to everyone and helping them pin them, so Nathaniel went to go back to his seat.

'Hey Nathaniel,' Adrien called out, moving to stand near the boy.

Nathaniel looked up from under his fringe at Adrien.

'Yeah?' he said.

'Would you like to come sit with us today? There's no assigned seating today and I thought, you know, it'd be nice to not be alone.' Adrien cringed at his phrasing, hoping that Nathaniel wouldn't take offence and assume that Adrien was saying he was a loner. However, Nathaniel didn't seem to notice or care, and smiled shyly at Adrien.

'Sure, I'd like that.'

Marinette watched with curiosity as Adrien followed Nathaniel and helped him carry his bags over to where their group was sitting. She was pleased with the results of her hard work and even more pleased that Nathaniel was going to be hanging out with them that day. As she was finishing pinning the final name tag onto Alix, Mr. Damocles stood up out the front of the school and began to speak through a microphone.

'Good morning, students and teachers.' His voiced echoed out from the speakers strategically placed in front of the assembled students. 'We will begin cross country events shortly, beginning with the oldest year first.'

A cheer went up from a group of students in red shirts from the other end of the line of students from Marinette. Mr. Damocles raised his hand and the cheer faded away.

'Yes, it's very exciting. Please note the schedule for the day, if you haven't viewed it yet your teacher will have a copy for you to view throughout the day. Be sure to arrive promptly for your event so you don't miss out, and have fun!' He finished, passing the microphone to Ms. Briant amid a polite applause.

'Alright, can all final year classes please move to the meeting point near Ms. Mendeleiev? Your race will begin in 5 minutes, so go get ready!' She announced and quickly put the microphone down to go assist in race preparations.

Alya settled down between Marinette and Nino.

'This has got to be one of the more boring carnivals. They only get one year group at a time to run and it takes like over an hour each. Ugh.' And she brought out her phone to check her Ladyblog.

To Marinette's surprise, Adrien came and sat down next to her with Nathaniel on his right. While they talked between them she watched the line-up of students. She noticed a group that seemed particularly sporty and were very focused on the race ahead of them. As Marinette watched she saw a blond guy being pushed forward by his group of friends, and he approached unnoticed by the serious teens, bending down behind a guy with black hair wearing the fanciest sneakers Marinette had ever seen. The blond guy seemed to be tying his shoelaces, so Marinette stopped paying attention to him and instead brought her sketchbook out and began idle-mindedly drawing.

She didn't notice how, when the gun went off signaling the start of the race, the black haired boy that was in front of the blond boy who had tied his shoelaces tripped over while everyone else went past him. But she did notice the reaction of the crowd when they gave a mixed 'ooh' of confusion, humour, and pain.

The boy tried to stand up, but then fell onto his face again.

'What's wrong with him?' Alya asked, disrupted from her phone browsing.

Marinette looked closely at his feet, and sighed when she saw what had happened.

'His shoelaces have been tied together.'

The boy also saw the problem and began untying them but by the time he had finally untied the solid knots his classmates had at least a three minute head start. He stomped over to the teacher's desk and seemed to be having a heated discussion with them for a further two minutes while they just shook their heads, before he finally seemed to accept his fate and sprinted off along the race track to try to catch up.

Marinette sadly watched him go, hoping that he would still do well. They would find out in about 15 to 20 minutes when the fastest and fittest finished the 5km race.

When all the runners had returned from the first race, Marinette looked around the find the guy who had tripped over and started the race late. He had ended up coming 10th with a gap of only 2 minutes between him and the first person and she was sure if he hadn't fallen and wasted his time arguing he would have come first. He had taken a few minutes to recover from his desperate run, and now she could see him approaching the group that had caused his trouble.

As she watched, the guy began arguing with the group and she could see him getting increasingly angry when the group just laughed at him and didn't take it seriously. The only one showing some sympathy was the blond guy who had tied the laces together, and he was trying to calm the other guy down. Eventually the black-haired boy stormed off again, giving up on getting an apology from the group.

Marinette suddenly heard a laugh from her right, forgetting about the commotion when she turned to see Nathaniel covering his mouth with one hand to try to stop laughing while Adrien looked very pleased with himself. Nathaniel saw Marinette watching and quickly stopped laughing and let his fringe hide most of his face when he turned red. Adrien saw his reaction and turned to see Marinette, and grinned at her.

'Hey Marinette, you'll never guess what, but Nath here is a huge fan of puns!'

Marinette watched in surprise. She had rarely seen Nathaniel laugh because he was usually too shy.

'R-really?' She said, talking to Adrien too which made her stutter slightly. 'What d-did you say?'

Adrien's grin grew even wider as he said, 'Oh, I just gave him a couple of arty puns that I knew. For example, what did the blue say to the orange?'

Marinette could only watch in a mix of horror and surprise.

'Don't use that tone with me!'

Nathaniel snorted while Marinette's jaw dropped slightly. Nino and Alya looked around at them too now, and heard the last joke. Nino rolled his eyes.

'Come on dude, those puns are going to be the death of me.'

Adrien winked at him.

'When I dye, I think it'll be because of too many strokes, or perhaps a h-art attack. My puns only cause art-official injuries.'

Alya groaned and began to say 'Adrien…' but was cut off when there screaming starting on the other side of the school. They knew what that meant.

The teachers quickly started herding the students away from the commotion, and they all got up to run but Marinette was falling slightly behind, the tight bandages hindering her movement. She decided to use this to her advantage and started to move towards some bushes to the side so she could transform, when Nathaniel suddenly ran over to her to help.

'Here, Marinette, lean on me.'

Adrien looked back at them and was tempted to go help, but he knew he would be of more use as Chat Noir. He ducked behind a building, looked around to make sure there were no people around, and opened his bag to let Plagg out.

'Plagg, claws out!'


	6. Chapter 6 - Speed Demon

Marinette stumbled along besides Nathaniel, appreciative of what he was trying to do but wishing he would leave her alone so she could transform. She tripped on a rock in their way and fell forward, closed her eyes as she fell, and felt a pair of strong arms catch her. She opened her eyes expecting to see Nathaniel and had already formed the 'thank you' on her lips, when she saw a pair of bright green eyes looking into her own.

'C-Chat Noir!' She exclaimed, then looked behind him and saw Nathaniel looking annoyed that he hadn't been the one to catch her.

'Guess you fell for me, princess.' The feline winked at her. Then he turned to Nathaniel and said 'I'll carry her to safety, you go and stay safe.'

Nathaniel hesitated but saw Chat Noir already lifting Marinette into his arms and did as he was told, running after the others.

Chat Noir hoisted Marinette into his arms and leapt away. They landed out past the field and across the road behind a row of buildings, and Chat put her down.

Marinette groaned internally as she realised how much further she would have to travel with her sore knee but gave Chat a thankful smile.

'Thanks for saving me once again Chat Noir.'

He gave her his Cheshire-like grin and gave a deep bow.

'No purr-oblem, princess.'

His ears pricked as he heard a voice booming over the speakers from the oval, and he turned to leave.

'Stay safe.' He said, and he leapt away over the rooftops.

She dropped her thankful façade as soon as he was out of sight and opened her bag to let Tiki out.

'That was kind of him.' Tiki winked at her.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

'Oh yeah, saving the damsel in distress, such a hero. Tiki, spots on!'

She closed her eyes as the transformation took place, concentrating on her knee to see what would happen. Once again, Tiki was right about everything. Her bulky bandages disappeared, the tight suit taking its place in support of her knee, somehow reducing the pain. She opened her eyes and took a couple of hesitant steps forward to see how it felt, and was pleasantly surprised when she barely felt anything.

Ladybug grinned. Time to go catch that silly cat.

Chat Noir watched the akuma from his hiding place in a sturdy tree on the edge of the field. The akuma seemed to be a young man, and Chat assumed that he was from their school based on his outfit. He was wearing the mandatory PE shorts, which were black with a red trim along the bottoms. There were random red lines covering his black shirt, glowing like lava. He was also wearing a red sports headband featuring what looked like devil's horns, and had a red rope looped around a hook on his waist.

Although the akuma seemed to be walking, he was moving at a pace more akin to Chat's own jogging speed. He didn't seem to be doing anything too destructive and was actually cleaning the start of the race up after it had been trampled by the stampede of students trying to get away.

Despite his apparent harmlessness, the oval was scattered with students slowly fleeing. Those closest to the akuma had their legs bound together at the ankles, forcing them to jump as they attempted to retreat.

As the akuma turned towards one of the unrestrained students, Chat prepared to intervene, but was taken aback when the strolling akuma rapidly outpaced the running student. After closing the distance between them, the akuma threw his rope around the student, catching them by their ankles and causing them to trip over. He then pulled the rope back and walked away, leaving the student to struggle where he had left them. _Interesting,_ Chat thought.

Then he heard a twig behind him snap, and he turned around with a start before relaxing as he was it was Ladybug.

'My Lady,' He said bowing to her, 'I was afraid you had gotten tied up.'

Ladybug rolled her eyes, having also seen the effects of the akuma on the students below them. She was about to reply to him when the voice came again from the loud speakers.

'Ladybug and Chat Noir, I know you're here! My name is Speed Demon, and I am the fastest in the world! To prove it I am going to challenge you to a race. If you win, I will surrender to you. But if you lose, you must surrender your miraculous' to me! You have one minute, or else I will force all of Paris to feel my wrath!'

Ladybug and Chat looked at each other, contemplating what he had said.

'My Lady? What are we going to do?'

Ladybug frowned, trying to come up with a solution.

'I'm not sure…winning a race seems too easy. I think we should go down and talk to him to see what the catch is. Stay back though Chat, I don't want either of us to get caught, it'd make beating him very difficult.'

Chat nodded and offered her a hand.

'We'd better get down there then, before we **run** out of time.'

Ladybug was about to jokingly take his hand but snatched her hand away at the last second when she heard his pun, and grumpily jumped down from the tree.

She winced a little at the impact, remembering her injured knee just a little too late. Chat, who had noticed her reaction, was instantly alert.

'Bugaboo? Are you ok?'

'Yes, I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little **run** down from your puns.'

Chat grinned at her, stunned for a moment that she had used a pun of her own.

Ladybug ignored his reaction and began walking to the oval. Speed Demon saw them and began to walk over to them, but Chat held up a hand for him to stop.

'Not so **fast** Speed Demon, we heard you have a challenge for us and we'd like to discuss the terms.'

Speed Demon stopped and put his hands together just below his chin.

'It's very simple. We do the 5 kilometer race that has already been set out by these 'kind' teachers here, and whoever wins the race wins the battle. However, you two cannot use your yoyo or baton in any way to help you win. You must win it with your own speed.'

Chat Noir hesitated at that. He had seen how fast this guy could move when he chased after the students and he knew that their chances of beating him were slim.

'Chat Noir and I will discuss this together and be back here in 2 minutes.' said Ladybug

Speed Demon's eyes narrowed.

'One minute.' He growled, and turned to sit on a chair, watched the two superheroes.

Ladybug led Chat Noir to behind the trees again so they couldn't be seen. He looked at her curiously.

'I don't think we can beat him, my lady. He moves way too fast and without your yoyo and my baton we can only run at a normal speed.'

Ladybug nodded.

'And actually, I'd prefer not to run, I…. I rolled my left ankle the other day and it'll slow me down.'

Ladybug felt bad for lying to him about the exact details of her injury, but she didn't want Chat to connect her to the girl he had carried away earlier.

Chat nodded.

'Ok, I can run for you but still, I can't beat him! Do we have to do this race?'

'I don't like the idea of the race either, but I don't know if I'm up to beating him while I'm injured so if there's another way I'm going to try it.'

She thought for a moment, furrowing her brow in a way that Chat thought was totally adorable, then took out her yoyo.

'I think the best chance we have is to use whatever I can get from my Lucky Charm, but then I'll only have a few minutes until I detransform.'

'Go for it bugaboo, while I run you can have a break, just be back at the end to watch me win.'

He winked at her and she ignored him, throwing her yoyo up into the air and saying quietly 'Lucky Charm!'

A bag fell into her hands. When she opened it she pulled out one of the pieces of black cloth and held it up, thinking it looked familiar. Then she saw that just below it in the bag were some cat ears and she realised that in the bag were several Chat Noir costumes. Not very good quality, but they would seem real enough if you didn't look too closely.

'What are we going to do with those?' Chat asked confusedly. 'I'm not going to need a change of clothes am I?'

'Twenty seconds!' Speed Demon's voiced called over to them.

Ladybug sucked on her lip for a moment, an idea forming in her mind. She looked around to see what her Ladybug vision would tell her, and as she suspected the costumes flashed up in ladybug print as well as some students who had taken shelter nearby.

She grinned up at Chat Noir.

'I have a plan.'


	7. Chapter 7 - The Second Race

Helloooooo readers! Sorry it's been such a long time since my last post, please forgive me 3 Thanks to ScruffydaDruid, Curiosity - Or n0t, and SJJSpice1 for liking my story this past week and waking me up and reminding me to do this chapter! I'll try to update a bit more regularly, once every couple of weeks perhaps and not keep you waiting for so many months. Thanks for reading, love you all 3 3 3

Marinette watched Speed Demon and Chat Noir set up for the start of the race from on top of the tall office building nearby, landing on it as Ladybug and detransforming into Marinette when she was sure she couldn't be seen.

Tiki zoomed around her head anxiously.

'Marinette! Are you sure this is going to work? Isn't it a bit of a risk?'

'Shh Tiki! Make sure they can't see us. I don't know if it will work, but isn't it the best option?'

Tiki quietened down and landed on the floor, munching on a cookie that Marinette offered her, and peeked over the edge so she could also watch the proceedings.

'I guess you're right.'

The race was about to begin; Chat Noir and Speed Demon were both standing at the start line, and a terrified looking Mr Damocles stood ready with the start gun. She heard the loud bang and saw both of them start the race.

'There they go, let's hope this works.'

Her plan was based off a fable she had heard when she was younger. It was one of two stories where a slower animal was able to beat a faster one. The other was the story of the tortoise and the hare, where the hare relaxed too much and accidently let the tortoise win. She knew that that wasn't going to work, there was no way that Speed Demon would relax and with Hawk Moth watching it was a definite no to that plan.

The other story was when a hedgehog had beaten the devil in a long distance running race, and tired him to death. Well, more correctly, _a group_ of hedgehogs, pretending to be one, had tricked the devil into exhausting himself. The first hedgehog had made a wager with the devil that he could beat him in a race, the hedgehog to have the choice of time and place. He chose to run up and down a ditch at night. When the time came, the hedgehog rolled himself up at one end of the ditch, and got a friend to roll himself up at the other, then the race with the devil started. When the devil got to the end of the ditch, the hedgehog's friend would say something like 'off we go again', or 'are you only just getting here?'. Each hedgehog kept repeating this at his own end of the ditch, while the devil ran up and down between them, until they ran him to death.

It was a fairly simple concept, with the only catch being that the hedgehogs had to look and sound the same. When Ladybug's Miraculous had given her the set of matching Chat Noir costumes, she had realised that this was the trick they were going to attempt to pull off.

After explaining the plan to Chat Noir, she had run over to the kids nearby and found four blond guys who could pass somewhat as Chat Noir from behind, and now all four were set up strategically near the corners of the race.

Speed Demon would start the race with Chat Noir, who was under instructions to quickly turn around and go back to about 50 meters behind the finish line, ready to sprint as fast as possible to the finish as soon as he saw Speed Demon turn around the final bend 400 meters behind him.

The track for the race wound around the forest where they had originally watched Speed Demon, going in and out of the trees. Ladybug had told each of the boys to simply run around the corner before ducking into the trees to find some shelter, and stay still as the akuma went past. Their black outfits would hopefully let them blend into the shadows if they stayed nice and still while covering their blond hair and face.

From her vantage point she could only see the final boy and Chat Noir, so all she could do was wait.

Chat watched from his place, sweating nervously in the sunlight. He didn't like not doing anything and letting the akuma out of his sight but he had to admit that Ladybug's plan was a good one, so he tried his best to wait patiently.

He could hear something which sounded like rain but heavier, and realised that it must be Speed Demon's feet hitting the ground at a super-human speed. Chat started jogging towards the line, watching over his shoulder as he went. There! He saw a blur of movement spin around the corner and start zooming towards him, and he ran as fast as he could.

The sound came louder and louder as the akuma gained on him, and there were 30…20…10 meters to go. Then Chat was over the line and two seconds later Speed Demon went past him, slowing down and turning back towards the victor. Chat internally was celebrating the win, Ladybug's plan had worked! But then he saw the look on Speed Demon's face.

'How did you do that?! I am the fastest in the world! But no matter how fast I ran you were always one corner ahead of me!' The akuma spat at him, literal sparks flying from him as the lava on his shirt seemed to bubble and boil even more.

Chat started to back away, thinking that perhaps beating this guy had only made things worse, because now he was super mad.

'Hey, I'm just a fast cat.' He said defensively, putting his hands up in peace. _Where are you Ladybug,_ he thought. He really needed her support right now.

'Speed Demon, we won and you lost. Keep your end of the bargain and let us purify you.' came Ladybug's voice as she landed next to Chat Noir.

The akuma stepped back, shaking his head.

'No…I was supposed to win.' The purple butterfly suddenly appeared over his face and they knew Hawkmoth was talking to him, but they could only hear one part of the conversation.

'Yes…you're right…yes Hawkmoth.' The purple butterfly disappeared, but Speed Demon kept his head down for a moment as he thought about whatever Hawkmoth had said.

'Well that was a **speedy** conversation.' Chat said to Ladybug, trying to lighten the mood, but she put her hand up, signaling him to stop as she focused on the akuma.

Suddenly Speed Demon looked up, a new evil look in his eye.

'Hawkmoth has decided. The results cannot be valid, so you must have cheated, so I win. Give me your Miraculous!' He snarled and ran at them.

Chat used his baton to jump a few meters to the left, and Ladybug swung from tree on the right then a lamppost nearby to position herself behind the akuma as he charged between them.

She studied him closely, noting all the aspects of his outfit and trying to find where the akuma was hidden. The only thing that she could see was…

'Chat! His Miraculous must be in his sneakers!'

Chat grimaced. 'My lady, do you have a plan for getting those things? He moves pretty fast.'

As if to prove his point, Speed Demon charged at Chat again, who only just managed to get out of the way.

'I guess I should use my lucky charm again.' Ladybug sighed, knowing that her poor Tiki was going to be very exhausted after today's events. She was just about to throw her yoyo up in the air and call the command when she came up with an idea.

'Hey Chat, distract him for a moment please.'

Chat dodged another attack. 'Alright m'lady. Hey slowpoke, cat-ch me if you can!' and he leapt away, taunting Speed Demon into following him.

Ladybug looked around and found what she had been looking for: a giant oak tree. She swung her yoyo toward another tree on her right, judging the angle correctly so the yoyo head bounced off that tree, onto another and then another, and swung back to her. She caught it and swiftly tied a noose knot so that it was firmly attached to the tree.

Looking to where Chat was being chased by Speed Demon, she caught her breath as Chat was knocked off his feet by the speed of the akuma. He quickly bounced back up and used his pole to vault away, but she could tell that he was getting tired.

Ladybug waited until Speed Demon was facing Chat, before darting out from her shelter behind the trees and sprinting across the field to where she could see another strong looking tree. She circled it a few times to ensure the yoyo was firmly attached and wouldn't just pull her along with it when her plan was enacted. Now there was a line of yoyo string hovering just above the ground at ankle height across the field.

'Ok Chat, jump up high and land over there!' She called out to him, pointing to a patch of grass about 20 meters away from the opposite side of the trap.

Chat looked confused, but he was too tired to bother asking questions. He dodged another charge from Speed Demon and then vaulted across the field, landing exactly where his lady wished him to and only then seeing the line. He nodded to her, understanding her plan. Speed Demon turned around, and glared at the two of them.

'This is the final warning. Hand over your miraculous items now or be destroyed!' He yelled, strolling towards them at what was still a fairly fast speed.

Chat Noir snorted, 'No way! You can't catch us anyway, we won the race and now we're going to beat you because we're just faster and better.'

Speed Demon's suit started to spark, and he burst into a full sprint towards him. Ladybug pulled tight on the yoyo and held her breath as he got closer and closer to the line. She felt a massive tug on the line and felt a sharp pain in her leg as she was thrown off balance into the tree. She quickly released her yoyo and let it unwind from the tree and zip back across the field, and she limped after it. She saw that Speed Demon had tripped over the line as she had hoped, skidding to a stop just in front of Chat.

Chat quickly tugged the shoes off the floundering akuma, throwing them to Ladybug as she ran past. As she reached the tree and picked up her yoyo, she ripped the shoes open to release the little black butterfly.

'No more evil-doing for you, little akuma! Time to de-evilise!' and she threw her yoyo at the escaping butterfly, performing her cleansing magic. 'Gotcha!'

The yoyo opened to release the now purified butterfly, and Ladybug smiled at it. 'Bye-bye little butterfly. MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!' She threw her yoyo up in the air, and the pink swirl of ladybug magic flew around the park and miraculously, everything was fixed.

Ladybug and Chat turned to the civilian that was Speed Demon.

As she had expected, it was the black-haired boy who had been pranked at the start of the race. He was on his hands and knees, looking shame-facedly at the ground. He looked up at the two superheroes apologetically.

'L-ladybug? Chat Noir? Did I… man, I'm so sorry.' He said, then looked back at the ground, slowly standing up.

'I was supposed to win a race today I've been training for it all year. And then…then some guy tied my shoelaces together and I tripped and I didn't even make the top three. And I guess I just got mad and… something happened.'

People were beginning to filter back into the park area. The blond hair boy Marinette had seen tie the shoelaces earlier cautiously walked over to where the heroes and the de-akumatised boy were standing. Ladybug nodded in his direction, 'I think someone wants to say something.'

The blond hair boy blushed awkwardly as the other boy turned towards him.

'Um…Hi, Sam.'

'Hi…Hugo right?'

The boy called Hugo seemed surprised but pleased that Sam knew his name.

'Y-y-yeah. Um so, there's something I should tell you.' Hugo also started staring earnestly at the ground. 'I…I was the one that tied your laces together. I'm really sorry.'

Sam stared at him. 'But why would you do that?'

Hugo closed his eyes 'Because those guys found out that I…kind of…have a crush on you, so they told me to do it or they'd tell you. I didn't want to do it but I also didn't want you to know but now I told you so they won't tell you because you already know so I don't have to be mean to you anymore and I'm sorry for all of that please don't hate me.'

There was silence for a moment and Sam looked stunned.

'You…you like me…?'

Hugo barely managed to nod, he was so embarrassed.

Sam started to smile.

'Well, I must admit that although I haven't really spoken to you before, I kind of might like you too.'

Both boys looked up at each other and seemed lost in each other's eyes, smiling shyly and seemingly forgetting about the presence of the two superheroes.

Ladybug made eye contact with Chat Noir, and made a head signal for them to leave.

He grinned at her as they walked away, 'when are you going to finally confess your love to me, my lady?'

She rolled her eyes at him and pushed him away.

'Dream on, Chaton.' Then she smiled wistfully and said quietly, 'Though I do wish I had his courage to confess my feelings to the guy I like.'

Chat's ears twitched as he caught her whisper. He stopped walking and turned to her suddenly. 'What did you say?! You… you like someone?'

Ladybug grimaced, clearly not intending to have let him hear that last part.

'It's nothing Chat. I'll see you later.' And she threw her yoyo at the nearby building and swung off into the distance.

Chat watched her go, the usual ache that he felt after her rejections turning to a stabbing pain in his chest.

'Goodbye, my lady.'


	8. Chapter 8 - Thinking

Evidently I'm not that good at posting regularly...I'm 3/4 of the way through the next chapter and will chuck that up soon too :)

Lots of blah about Adrien thinking and feeling in this chapter, Marinette in the next, hopefully some more action coming up after that!

Adrien ducked into the nearby bathroom and released his transformation. He felt slightly disconnected from his body and only automatically held out the piece of camembert for Plagg. His kwami seemed to notice his mood and munched quietly to let his miraculous holder have some time to think.

The words that Ladybug had whispered were obviously not intended to reach his ears and he felt guilty for having heard them. _The guy I like…_ that guy. Adrien leant against a nearby wall and looked up at the roof, resting his head on the hard brick behind him. He had to think logically. There were always three options for someone's feelings, right? Either they liked him, didn't like him, or were somewhere in-between. For his strong Ladybug, he had ruled out the latter because she didn't seem the type to be indecisive about her feelings. That meant she was either into him or not.

She had always pushed him away before but Adrien had always put that down to her passion for saving the city, telling himself that she just wasn't ready to date because she was too busy. If she didn't acknowledge his feelings then she must not be open to anyone else's. Just too busy. Adrien's own father had once instructed him to not have a girlfriend until university, or later if possible, because it would 'take too much time' and he should 'focus on his studies'. Adrien had always assumed that Ladybug felt the same way about the boyfriend thing, because after all she was just as busy as him with school and saving the world.

But now… she had just admitted she liked someone. That meant that she was actually into someone and wasn't ignoring her feelings like he had thought. He considered the possibility that maybe she just had feelings for this guy and wasn't acting on it because she didn't actually have a proper crush on the guy. But he could still see her wistful smile as she had spoken the words, and how her eyes and seemed to gaze off into the distance. He had known then that she was thinking of someone and he had felt his heart break. He would have given anything to have her speak about him that way.

He had to focus. So, she definitely liked someone. Now the two options were that it was him or…someone else. Someone not him. She hadn't said any name, so there was still a small chance it was him. He briefly considered the possibility that it was his civilian form. After all, he had many followers and, as he had found out many times, some of those girls were scarily obsessive. Adrien tried to think if he had seen any girl with those bluebell eyes watching him from the crowds, but no. There were no girls that particularly stood out from there, and Ladybug didn't seem the type to fall for a guy that she didn't know well. That meant that if it was him, she would have to know him closely. Could he have missed her?

There had been a few times when he had reflected on the girls at his school and class, the only girls he knew outside of the people he worked with. Every time he had felt the nagging feeling that he was missing something, like she was there but he just couldn't SEE her.

He put his hands over his face. She could be there, but it was just as likely she wasn't and he was just imagining it and being hopeful. Adrien had considered every girl numerous times and he was sure that none of them were that wonderful woman that made his heart pound every time he saw her. He would have had to notice if she was around. Plus, if she was in his class, she would have noticed him too. She was as smart as she was fair, and she wouldn't have been able to keep such a secret from him.

No, she couldn't be in his class.

That meant that, logically, it wasn't him as a civilian. That left him as a superhero. But he knew deep down that she didn't like him like that. As a final clue, that look into the distance as she had accidently revealed that she liked someone. If it had been him she would have looked at him, not away from him.

And from his damn logic, that left one solution. That guy that she liked just wasn't him.

Adrien heard footsteps approaching, and quickly dropped his hands and looked up to see who it was as Plagg zoomed back into his jacket pocket. He was surprised to see Nathaniel slowly walking towards him, looking concerned.

'Hey, Adrien, are you ok? Did you get hurt?'

Adrien smiled weakly 'Nah, I'm ok.' _Apart from feeling like my chest is being crushed by a giant, and wanting to scream and cry…_ 'Thanks for checking on me. What happened? Is everyone ok?'

Nathaniel didn't seem to believe his 'ok' statement, but continued anyway. 'It was pretty cool actually. Ladybug and Chat Noir accepted his race challenge and then beat him by using the old hedgehog and the something-or-other animal trick and dressing a bunch of blond guys as chat noir. Anyways, he threw a tantrum about losing and attacked them but then they tripped him and turned him back into normal.' He had become pretty animated while telling Adrien of the events, but seemed to remember where he was and calmed down, blushing. 'Sorry, that probably doesn't make any sense.'

Adrien's smile widened at the enthusiasm of his new friend. 'Nah, that's all good I think I get it. Pretty epic really.'

Nathaniel nodded emphatically 'It really was! Anyway, shall we go join the rest of your friends?'

Adrien started to nod and walk out of the room but hesitated. 'Nathaniel, they're not just my friends, right? They're your friends too?'

Nathaniel blushed.

'Well, I…I've never really… I mean I'd like them to be but…' He looked at the floor to hid his face.

'I'd like them to be my friends but I've never really been able to…I don't know, fit in? Nino is kind but he was in his own little bubble before you arrived, Alya is new and I haven't had much of a chance to talk to her, and Marinette…I…I can't seem to talk to her properly. I keep tripping over my words and saying dumb things because my mind just goes blank!'

He looked up and Adrien was surprised to see the fierce determined look in his eyes, shining out from behind his screen of red hair.

'One day I'll be able to say just the right thing and then she...' The look disappeared quickly as he realised what he was saying and who he was talking to. 'I… will be able to be friends with them.'

Adrien felt surprised. He never knew that other people felt like that about his friends, but the more he thought about it the more he began to understand how this other boy felt. Adrien had been lucky to make friends with Nino on his first day but he had no idea just how lucky he was to have Nino become his best friend. And as for the girls, he could understand how Alya's brashness could be intimidating for the shy guy, but he had always assumed that Nathaniel and Marinette were somewhat friends.

In fact, the more he thought about it the more he realised that he had never really seen them speak that much. And when he tried to think about whom else he had seen talking with Nathaniel, he realised that the poor boy had always been on the edge of the group.

Adrien felt a wave of guilt wash over him. The way that he had felt when he first arrived at the school, the first day of not knowing anyone, that was how Nathaniel must feel every day: friendly but not friends, together but alone on the edge. Adrien had been too absorbed in his own world to pay attention to the other people in his class. Sure, he got along well with everyone but he realised that he hadn't made much of an effort to really get to know anyone. For all he knew there were other people who felt like Nathaniel. He had to try to fix that.

'I'm sorry Nath, I didn't know you felt like that. But, I'd like to count you as my friend if I can?' He winced internally at how awkward that sounded but Nathaniel didn't seem to notice. He brightened up and blushed even more. Adrien wondered what Nathaniel and Marinette would be like as a couple, deciding that they would likely just both be bright red the entire time.

'R-really? I would like that.' Nathaniel smiled at him.

Adrien grinned back, and dramatically held out his hand. 'In that case, mon ami, shall we go join OUR friends?'

Nathaniel shook his hand delicately and bowed his head elegantly, replying 'Indeed, good sir.'

They both giggled and left the bathroom. Adrien followed Nathaniel back to where they had been sitting before the akuma attack, thinking that it was a weird place to make a friend but he was glad he had.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Plan

Ok, I'm starting to understand now why it takes people so long to write PhDs, and that would be even harder than this omg :')

I'm just gonna stop apologising for taking so long each chapter, please know that I'm forever sorry and am doing my best 3

Marinette took one more look around, then began to trudge back to the sports ground. She had gone back to the building where Chat had left her just in case he had come looking to check on her like he usually did. This time, however, he didn't show. Perhaps her accidental confession to liking someone had shocked him into forgetting about her. She shook that thought off quickly. Chat was definitely a womanizer, there was no way he would be that hurt by her comment because he undoubtedly had someone else he would immediately move on to.

Distracted by her thoughts, Marinette tripped on a small rock. Her arms windmilled for a moment and she felt her right ankle start to twist. By some miracle she managed to get her left leg out in front and catch herself before she fell, but the slight twist in her ankle had been enough to send a jarring pain up her leg and remind her of her knee injury. She had almost forgotten about it in her worry over Chat. She stopped walking and looked down at her leg and to the bandage which poked out from beneath her shorts.

Tiki flew out of her bag and hovered above the injury to check on the healing.

'It's not as bad as it could have been, but you've definitely reopened the wound again.' She shook her head gently. 'It'll add maybe another day onto the healing process, but it still shouldn't be more than a week until you're back to normal.' She zipped back up to be level with Marinette's face and tried to cup her chin in her small hands. 'Cheer up Marinette. You defeated the akuma and you're going to heal.'

Marinette sighed. 'Oh Tiki, I'm fine about all that I'm just worried about Chat. He didn't come to get me you know?'

Tiki nodded, understanding. 'That's true, but he was pretty tired from being chased by that akuma? He probably just needed to detransform and take a break.'

Marinette still felt unsure. 'But Tiki, he's been tired before and he's still come to check on me.'

Tiki glanced at her curiously. 'Why do you need him to come check on you? Do you…miss him?'

Marinette floundered for a moment. 'No! I...I just….I don't know! What if he was too tired to come back? Or if he's coming back later and I'm not there and he worries?'

Her kwami still looked suspicious but decided to more on and let Marinette work out her feelings some other time. She put on her wisest all-knowing face and looked deep into Marinette's eyes to try to calm her down.

'Marinette, I'm sure he's ok. If he wasn't he would have sent a message by now, and he'd know you'd return back to the sports field eventually once you saw the miraculous cleanse. It'll be fine, trust me.'

Marinette took a deep breath. 'You're right Tiki.' Her phone buzzed and she turned to pull it out of her bag. 'Oops…I forgot to message Alya.' On her phone were 20 missed calls, 5 voice mails, and 36 messages from her best friend, as well as 2 messages from Nino. As she scanned through them, Alya's name popped up on the screen as she called Marinette again. Marinette swiped the answer button and started walking again, bracing herself for the barrage that she knew was about to happen.

'MARINETTE! Where have you BEEN? You were carried off by Chat Noir are you ok? You completely missed everything! What happened with you?! We're waiting by the field where, are you now?'

Marinette let her finish, and then tried to calm her down. 'Hi Alya, I'm fine, I'm walking back now. I can see the field I'll meet you back where we were before.'

She began the ascent up the small grass knoll that lead to the sports field.

'Hmmm fine, me and Nino will meet you back there in a minute and you'd better have a good excuse for not answering your phone!'

Marinette reached the top of the hill and looked around to get her bearings, seeing Alya and Nino standing about 20 meters to her left. She started to walk towards them, and saw Adrien and Nathaniel approaching at the same time from the other side. At least if they were there Alya might not completely destroy her.

Then she saw Adrien and Nathaniel suddenly turn and walk off towards a different group of people from their class.

Marinette walked over to Alya and Nino but was so distracted by watching Adrien walk away that she didn't notice where she was until she bumped into Alya's back.

'Ah! Sorry Alya!'

Alya spun around and raised an eyebrow. 'Girl, how did you not notice where you were again?'

Marinette bowed her head. 'Sorry, but I was kind of…distracted?'

'By what?'

Marinette pointed to where Adrien and Nathaniel were talking to Juleka and Rose. Alya turned to look and raised her other eyebrow.

'Wow, golden boy is making new friends. I can see how that would distract you, are you jealous?'

Marinette jumped. 'No! Definitely not, he's not really my friend anyway I don't own him! Nino is his friend.'

ALya rolled her eyes and nudged Nino, who was busily looking at something on his phone.

'How about you, babe? Jealous of your bestie making new friends?'

Nino looked up and to where the girls were looking at Adrien and shrugged. 'Hey the guy's got rights. If I'm busy with Alya then he should have a few friends to talk to. Have you guys seen this new meme?' He turned the phone to show Alya and Marinette.

Marinette nodded and let the conversation change to talking about whatever it was that Nino and Alya were saying, paying no attention to them and instead focusing on the boy that now felt so far away.

The rest of the day passed without any major incidents. Marinette's class ended up coming second in their year by 2 points, due to a penalty of -10 points from an argument between Kim and Alix that resulted in a broken megaphone.

Even with their feud, they each managed to win their own races. Adrien unsurprisingly came second in their age group. Marinette had watched his race with excitement, enjoying the chance to watch him run without fear of tripping over again. She had stood by the finish line with a banner for their class, supporting the boy's race with the other girls, but although he smiled at her when he saw the banner, she still noticed that he continued to socialize with the other members of the class more than he usually would.

Adrien in his turn had really enjoyed the rest of the day. Having never been to a cross country carnival before he had run his best during his race and felt rewarded by seeing his cheering and screaming classmates as he turned around the last corner, urging him to go faster and faster, overtaking some other guy and then coming second. Adrien felt proud of his accomplishment, and even prouder when he celebrated with his classmates. He felt a little bad about basically ignoring Marinette, Alya, and Nino, but he figured they were probably fine without him. The little empty ache he could feel in his chest he put down to the Ladybug drama.

He had chosen to walk back to the school with Nathaniel, a few meters behind the other three friends. As they had laughed and joked he had watched as Nathaniel, usually so quiet and in his own world, had started to open up and smile more. He still hid behind his hair quite a lot, but his posture was straighter and he even once managed to make eye contact with Adrien for a full two seconds. Adrien found that he really liked him. He was different to Nino in that he had the same interests; where Nino talked about music and technology, Adrien could talk to Nathaniel about his art. He discovered that Nathaniel also had a secret interest in fashion, which he put down to his crush on Marinette, but this shared interest had helped to create a bond between them as Adrien told him stories about his modelling and fashion work.

'So do you design clothes too, like Marinette does?' Adrien asked him.

Nathaniel nodded his head, again blushing just at her name and glancing ahead of them to see if she had noticed.

'I can design them yes, but I can't make them. That's Marinette's talent alone. She's very good at it.'

Adrien gave him a sly smile.

'You should get her to teach you.'

The other boy's face flashed terror for a moment, then he smiled and gave a quiet laugh.

'You know I couldn't do that. She's…she's Marinette, you know? She probably has more important things to do. And you've probably noticed I'm a bit of a mess around her, I'd probably end up breaking all her needles or sewing my own hands together or something.'

Adrien's smile turned into a relaxed grin.

'Oh, I don't know. It could be a good chance to spend time with her; she'd love to share her passion. Plus she would get to know you and realise how nice you are and marry you on the spot.'

Adrien swore that for a moment he saw Nathaniel's eyes roll at his statement.

'I never realised you were such a romantic.'

Plagg snorted in Adrien's pocket, but Nathaniel seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment so Adrien took a moment to poke Plagg to get him to shut up.

Nathaniel sighed.

'Even if you're right – though not right about the marriage thing! Even if you're right about the spending time with her thing, I don't think I could ever ask her.'

'Maybe I could ask her.'

Nathaniel's eyes shot up.

'You? Why would you do that?'

'Hey, I'm a romantic remember? You should've seen what I did for Nino.'

'What did you do for Nino..?'

'The usual, hid in the bushes and gave him advice through a hidden earpiece.'

Nathaniel choked.

'YOU WHAT?!'

'Hid in the bushes and gave him advice through a hidden earpiece. What's so difficult about that?' Adrien gave him an innocent smile.

Nathaniel almost tripped over from laughing so hard.

'Oh my God. I didn't know people did that in real life!'

'They don't, that's why we're animated. Anyway, I don't think you need that extreme help but I can talk to her for you I'm sure, and get her to invite YOU to sewing lessons! Good plan hey?'

'I…I guess. Only if you want to though. I don't want to force you to do that. And you can't tell her anything!'

Adrien held his hands up.

'Hey of course, I'm a master of subtlety.'

He started to walk faster to catch up to Marinette, but Nathaniel grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back. Adrien smiled internally as he thought about how romantic that would look in slow motion in an anime.

'Adrien. Going to her right now, right when you've been talking to me, that's not subtle.'

Adrien hesitated.

'Oh yeah.'

Nathaniel face-palmed.

'Oh my god. I'm going to regret this now.'

Adrien grinned at him.

'Nahh it'll be fine. It'll be great in fact! I'll speak to her this afternoon after school, there's no way she'll say no!'


	10. Chapter 10 - The Blogpost

Over a year since posting, whoops...How great is the new season?!

Alya arrived back at school 10 minutes earlier than Marinette, who had stopped home to get the bandage on her knee replaced. Alya had headed back to the classroom earlier than the others in order to quickly update the world on the latest victory of Ladybug and Chat Noir. She finished typing her latest blog post on the events of the day with Speed Demon, and switched back to her mobile to glance through the latest Ladynoir conspiracies. There were the usual posts about how beautiful and cute and perfect they would be, she was expecting that. It was one of her favourite hobbies to read through the various posts and then tag her favourites on her blog page.

She scrolled through the various titles, 'Together at last?', 'Ladybug reveals a secret!', 'Ladybug print for bikini season!'. She hesitated at that last one, then decided that, fangirl or not, red and black spots just weren't her colour. She tagged it anyway for later viewing.

Alya's eyes were drawn to the post below and she froze. Instead of the usual likes, this post had the same number of _dis_ likes. _What?_ She knew that her fans typically liked posts, not disliked. Those were saved for spam or other troll posts. But this one seemed deadly serious.

' _Why They Don't Match and Why We Should Stop Encouraging Their One-Sided Romance_ '

She clicked on the post and started reading.

 _I'm sure that this won't be liked, but our two beloved super heroes just do not belong together in a romantic relationship. As friends and as colleagues they work together very well and have saved our world so many times there's no denying that. However, their romantic relationship is very one-sided. We 'ship' them, simply because one is a male and one is a female. And because one of them is interested in the other of course we assume that they are a perfect match, but we never stop to think whether this is simply because we think that they're cute. If one of them doesn't love the other romantically by now then we have to face the fact that they simply do not belong together. And we have to stop encouraging the obsession from Chat before it ends in disaster…_

Alya looked up at she heard someone else enter the classroom, saving the article for future reading as she put her phone away.

'Hi Adrien, are you looking for Nino? He's gone to get lunch from the canteen.'

Adrien smiled easily at her.

'Thanks Alya. I'm actually looking for Marinette, have you seen her?'

Alya felt a tingle of excitement run up her spine on behalf of her best friend.

'Marinette? She just went home for a bit but she'll be back soon. Why do you want her?'

'I'm actually hoping she'll be able to help me with something. I discovered that Nathaniel is interested in fashion design so I thought maybe she might be able to help him learn to sew.'

Alya felt her hope sinking, and hesitated to reply.

Adrien started to look worried.

'I mean, if you think she won't want to then I won't ask. I just want to help Nathaniel out, you know?'

Alya sighed internally at the blonde's naivety, but forced a smile onto her face.

'My girl is busy, but if she has time I'm sure she would totally love to help out. Will you be joining in?'

'No, I've already studied basic sewing with designers from my father's company. I think I'll let him have his own private tutoring with Marinette.' He smiled easily at Alya. 'Thanks, I guess I'll ask her when she gets back. I'll go find Nino, are you coming?'

Alya hesitated. She wanted to go with him to find Nino, but the article was weighing on her mind and she wanted to read more.

'I'll come down soon, I've just got to finish a post.' She waved her phone at him vaguely.

Adrien nodded and started to walk out of the room.

'See you soon then!'

Alya unlocked her phone as he left and clicked on the link to the author's page. Benjamin Andiyo. She hesitated, then clicked on the 'contact me' link.


	11. Chapter 11

_Guess who totally forgot they even had a story here until they got some new followers?! :') Not completely sure where to go what with the new season just making us feel all the feels and destroying my plans for this story BUT I'm back and deleted all my future storylines and reread what I've got and we're now going in another direction yes! Enjoy ;)_

Marinette crossed the road over to school for the afternoon classes. Her parents had been fussing over her injury and the events at the school carnival, so she had decided that she would head over to the classroom to chat with Alya before class started. Marinette had also been thinking about Chat and how to help him recover from his possible heartache. Should she get him a gift? No, that's too romantic and he might take that the wrong way as he had for everything else. Anything lunch or dinner or otherwise food related could have the same consequence. What else could she do?

Not for the first time, she felt nervous at the thought of seeing him again that night for their patrol. And now mixed with that anxiety was the guilt that maybe by treating him as a good friend, she had let him get too carried away by his feelings. She wanted to believe that perhaps he was just a flirt and his feelings didn't run that deep, but he hadn't even come to check on her after the attack…

'Hey Marinette! How are you?' Came a voice from just in front of her. Correction: an Angelic voice from heaven.

She had been so lost in thought she hadn't even noticed herself climbing the school steps, or noticed when Adrien came over to greet her.

'Woa-hi Adrien' She managed to get out, with her cheeks turning the usual rouge just from seeing Him and saying his name.

Adrien in turn was feeling a little guilty, he'd seen her looking a little stressed as she limped up the school steps and remembered that as Chat Noir he'd forgotten to check up on her after the akuma attack. He'd have to remember to come visit her tonight before he met with Ladybug.

'How's the knee? I saw that you got carried off by Chat Noir.'

Marinette was a little surprised, she didn't remember seeing Adrien around when that had happened. She brushed it off though.

'Oh yeah um its ok now. Thanks though. Um, you? Happened ok?'

'Yeah I'm fine, Ladybug saved everyone like usual. By the way Marinette, I was wondering, have you ever considered teaching sewing to someone?'

'Sew...ing?' Marinette was caught off-guard by the random question. 'Um, I guess not really? I guess, I, euh, I could teach, if you want a lesson? But I'm not as talented as the people who work in your shoots.'

Marinette could feel the butterflies growing in her stomach as she thought about tutoring Adrien in her favourite thing. Maybe their hands would touch as she guided him through a step, and then one day he'd create her a beautiful dress and then they'd be married and oh my gosh they could create tiny little outfits for the hamster and

'Great! But it's not for me, it's for Nathaniel.'

Of course it wasn't for Adrien. Marinette felt the redness of her cheeks increasing. As if the literal model son of the most famous and rich fashion designer in the world would need sewing lessons from a nobody like her. The butterflies in her stomach stopped fluttering and she could feel the cold hands of embarrassment gripping her stomach instead.

'Oh…?' She managed to get out.

'Yeah I was talking to him earlier and apparently he's interested in learning about it, so I thought that since you both already know each other it would be a great idea if you taught him. And I've seen your designs Marinette, you're a brilliant designer already and you're very kind, so I'm sure you'd be a great teacher!'

Marinette now 10/10 red cheeks, and had both butterflies and embarrassment inside her, somehow they managed to cancel each other out long enough for her to think clearly. She set aside the compliments from Adrien for now, they would be properly daydreamed of throughout class this afternoon, and thought about the possibility of teaching Nathaniel. He wasn't Adrien of course, but he was a nice guy and it would be interesting to get to know him better. Plus, Marinette was not the type of girl to turn down a friend who wanted help.

'Ok, yeah, I think it would be fun.' She replied, smiling a small, shy smile at Adrien.

'Great! I'll tell him that I've found him a teacher!' Adrien said, grinning widely and feeling happy at his success. 'Thanks Marinette.'

As he walked away, Marinette's smile turned a little rueful. If only he would be that happy about spending time with her himself. She felt her heart ache a little as it yearned for her to follow him, to be with him a little longer. Out of the two main boy characters in her life, why did the one that liked her have to be the wrong one?

Nino watched as Adrien finished talking to Marinette by the school entrance, and started to walk towards him.

'Yo, Adrien, what's up?!'

Adrien went forward to greet him too.

'Hey Nino! Sorry but I've got to talk to Nathaniel right now. I'll see you in class!' And he started moving quickly up the staircase, leaving a surprised Nino alone at the bottom.

Nino hesitated for second, unsure of what to do next after such a short conversation.

'Ok dude.'

Perhaps he could walk with Marinette to the classroom. He turned back to look for her but saw her heading into the girls' bathroom. Nope. Ok, time to head back to the classroom to see Alya.

As he climbed the staircase that led to their classroom on the other side of the school, he tried to shake off the feelings of loneliness that had just hit him. He realised he hadn't felt this way since the first week of school that year, since before he had met Adrien.

'Nope, I'm not lonely again, Adrien is still my man and I've got my girl Alya too.'

As he walked into the classroom he saw Alya hunched over her phone like usual typing away furiously into her phone. He walked up to her and started to look over her shoulder to see what she was typing. She noticed him then and quickly turned off her phone, spinning round to face him and give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

'Hey babe!' She said brightly.

'Hey! What were you doing just then?' Nino asked her, curious about this 'Benjamin' that she'd been messaging. He couldn't remember anyone that she knew caled Benjamin.

'Oh, you know, Ladyblog stuff, the usual.' Her eyes slid away from his for a second, and alighted on the board at the front of the classroom. 'Oh yeah, did you get the homework done?'

As she continued talking about how difficult question 5 had been and brought out her notebook, Nino noticed how she quickly slid her phone back into her bag. _Nope, I'm not alone, this is fine._


	12. Chapter 12

Marinette finished unpinning the final poster of Adrien from her wall. It was the day of Nathaniel's first lesson, and even if she knew he was a good guy and trusted him, there was no way she was going to leave any evidence hanging up on the walls that she had a crush on Adrien. Not only was Nathaniel seemingly becoming good friends with Adrien, but he also had once had a crush on her too and she didn't want to hurt him. At least he had had the sense to not keep annoying her with his affections like Chat.

Putting the posters away in a box, she came across a magazine she had kept when Alya had been chosen as the winner to write a student article about Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette picked up the magazine, and it flipped open to the feature page on Chat. Her thoughts went back to the night before.

Ladybug and Chat had made a quick tour of the city, and for a moment while they had been swinging around the rooftops, laughing and joking, she could almost pretend that they were just normal friends. Well, 'normal' as can be when the two friends are superheroes who nothing about the other person. When they had finally reached the usual resting spot on top of the Eiffel Tower, they had stood awkwardly for a minute before Chat cleared his throat subtly and tried to start a conversation.

'Sooooo…' And paused.

But Ladybug was too scared of what he might ask next, so she ran away from it. She saw enough confrontations and broken hearts every day fighting akumas, she wasn't ready for her own. She felt her chest and throat tighten and her heart speed up as she prepared an excuse to leave.

'Oh sorry Chat, I have to get back home. My, uh, class has an English exam on Monday and I have to memorise some vocabulary.'

Chat could sense the awkwardness, but accepted that his Lady probably didn't want to talk about 'that kind of stuff' right now. He smiled gently at her to let her know he wasn't concerned.

'That's ok my Lady, I have a purrrramid of my own homework to do.' He hesitated. 'Will I see you tomorrow night?'

Ladybug felt her body relax.

'Of course Kitty, I wouldn't miss our patrols for the world.' She thought for a second. 'Only for a...a meow-ntain of homework.' She blushed at how terrible her pun was.

Cat laughed out loud.

'It's best to keep a paw-sitive catitude! See you tomorrow night' and leaned forward to give her the farewell kiss on the cheeks before they separated to go home.

Tiki watched as Marinette stood, gazing at the picture of Chat Noir, unconsciously touching his face in the picture. She sighed internally. _This girl, when is she going to figure it out?_

It was cute to keep watching them like this, and it was safer for them both. But connected as she was to Marinette, she could feel the inner turmoil of emotions as her heart was pulled towards the 'two' boys. She knew of course who Chat was, and had been around for enough centuries to know that Adrien liked Marinette too. _When are they both going to figure it out?_

Tiki subtly rustled some paper as she continued helping Marinette to clean up her room, making just enough noise to wake Marinette from her reverie. Marinette jumped and snatched her hand away from the photo of Chat, putting it back into the box.

'Thanks for helping me Tiki!'

'No problem Marinette.' She squeaked. 'It's so exciting that you'll be able to teach someone else something that you love.'

Marinette hummed cheerfully as she changed her computer screensaver so a selfie of her and Alya.

'Yeah, I never thought of tutoring sewing! I didn't think anyone would be interested. I'm a bit nervous but I think it should be ok.'

She had tried to put some determination into her voice, but her facade shattered as she hear the doorbell ring and her dad call for her.

'Marineeeeeeette! Your friend is here!'

Marinette frantically looked around her room.

'Ahhh did I forget anything?!'

Tiki flew over to Marinette and put her tiny arm on her forehead to comfort her.

'Relax Marinette. He's a nice friend who's here to learn from you. You're a great teacher and this is going to be great!'

Marinette smiled.

'Yeah! You're right Tiki. Let's do this!'


	13. Chapter 13 - The Crush

**My Beta/Sister kindly pointed out to me a couple of minor plot holes to do with the timing of the days here, I guess mistakes happen when you don't write regularly and forget where you're up to..? Anyway, I've gone back a few chapters and changed some times around, hopefully it's all ok now so if you're confused then either go back or just ignore time, time isn't real anyway :')**

Nathaniel packed up his notebook. His head was spinning with all the terms that Marinette had used during their lesson, and his thumbs already stung a little from accidently stabbing himself with a needle a few times. They'd started with the basics of threading needles, learning about some fabrics, and about how to find the best point to start working on.

'Anyway, I think that's probably enough for today.' Marinette finished. 'Um, do you want, like, homework or something?' She asked with uncertainty.

Nathaniel looked at the long list of equipment she had written down for him, and waved it at her.

'I think this shopping list should keep me busy for a while.' He said and grinned at her, folding it away into his bag.

Marinette grinned back, then yawned and stretched. Nathaniel sneakily glanced at her as she did so. _Cute!_

'So, do you want to have another lesson sometime?' She asked him.

'Um, I don't mind. If you have time. That would be great. But it's ok. I know you're busy.' He stuttered at her.

Marinette shrugged and took out her timetable, looking down at all the weekends for the rest of the term.

'We have the same classes, right? Maybe we can have lessons on every second Saturday?'

Nathaniel nodded, trying to hide a large smile from forming. He hid behind his fringe to hide his face as best as he could before answering 'Yeah, that'd be great.'

Marinette stood up and put away her own box of sewing supplies.

'I'm just going to go to the bathroom if that's ok? You keep packing up I'll be back soon.'

Nathaniel finished packing up the final few pencils and zipped up his bag, waiting patiently for her to come back. Then he saw a piece of paper on the floor under Marinette's desk, and decided to be helpful and pick it up for her. He bent over to pick it up, and as he straightened he turned it over.

On the piece of paper, which he now saw was a glossy poster, was a modelling photo of Adrien.

He jumped a little. In the corners he could see where someone had drawn little absent-minded love hearts, clearly not from the original poster design. His heart skipped a beat. _Why is this here?_ But he could already figure it out.

Marinette at that moment came back into the room. She saw Nathaniel standing next to her desk staring at one of her posters of Adrien, his cheeks turning a dark pink. She sprinted across the room and took it out of his hands in a rush.

'UM, I can explain! This is also fashion! Adrien is fashion! Able! Fashionable! His dad you know?' and she waved her free hand around, drastically trying to cover up.

Nathaniel's heart felt like it had now fully stopped beating, and was starting to sink. He recognised that reaction all to well, and now he knew. Marinette saw the recognition in his eyes and gave up her explanation.

'Please don't tell him? I'm, just, not ready for him to know.'

Nathaniel nodded numbly.

'I...I understand. It's ok, I won't tell him, you can trust me.'

Marinette looked relieved.

'Thank you Nathaniel! I know, you're a great guy, I trust you.'

The next few minutes of saying goodbye and walking home were a blur for Nathaniel. His heart was broken.

As the sun set, Adrien finished his homework and impatiently looked at the clock. He still had some time to go until he met up with Ladybug, and he wanted to meet with Marinette first. After meeting with Ladybug yesterday he had gone straight to Marinette's house, but her light had been off so he had assumed he was asleep and gone home. Tonight he was going to try to get there earlier to check up on her.

As he glanced at the clock again, Nathalie knocked politely on the door before entering.

'Good evening, Adrien. Have you completed your homework for tonight?' She asked in her usual robotic voice.

'Yes Nathalie.' He responded, equally as wooden.

'Excellent. Here is your timetable for tomorrow. I recognise that it is a Sunday, however your father has requested that you attend an extra photo shoot at dawn tomorrow as part of the 'New Day' promotion.'

Adrien nodded resignedly.

'Thanks Nathalie. What teenager doesn't love to wake up at dawn on a Sunday.' He said jokingly.

'The photo shoot is at dawn. Therefore you will be required to be awake and ready to leave the house at 5am.'

Adrien cringed and nodded again.

'Thanks. Goodnight Nathalie.'

'Goodnight Adrien.'

As the door closed behind her, Plagg zoomed out from behind a cushion.

'An early morning again? Ewwwww! Do these people not understand that we need our beauty sleep?! Let's just stay here and sleep!'

Adrien shook his head.

'No time for that sorry Plagg, it's time to go see Marinette and Ladybug.'

'Ah yes, your two favourite girls. No wonder you're so excited. But think about this: sleep is great!'

Adrien ignored him.

'Plagg, claws out!'

10 minutes later Chat Noir was sitting across the road from Marinette's house, studying her balcony for signs of light or movement. It was dark again, but he could see that the lights were on in the levels below, and sure enough a few minutes later he saw Marinette arrive back in her room carrying a plate with a few cookies. He took out his baton and zipped over to her balcony, politely knocking on her door twice. Then he grinned and mischievously followed that by a quick funky rhythm too.

Marinette opened the doors and stepped out, crossing her arms jokingly and shaking her head at Chat.

'Chat Noir, I should have known. What are you doing here?'

Chat felt a huge grin growing on his face. It was always fun to visit Marinette, as both Adrien and Chat she was his best friend and confidant.

'Good evening Princess.' He gave a low bow. 'I just wanted to check up on you after the akuma attack yesterday. I…' He hesitated briefly, remembering the purpose of his visit. 'I'm really sorry Marinette. I took you all the way over to some building to keep you safe, but I forgot to come back. I wanted to apologise last night so I came over but I guess you were asleep. Can you please forgive me?'

Marinette blushed at the heartfelt apology.

'It's ok, Chat. I know how busy you are. I was just disappointed I didn't get the chance to say thank you. So yeah, thank you for saving me.'

Chat looked relieved.

'Any time, Princess. So how's your knee?'

Marinette looked down at the injury. It had almost fully healed by now, but she had kept the limp up at school all day yesterday and today with Nathaniel and her family, in order to keep their suspicions low.

'I'm alright Chat, it's almost gone now.'

Chat was sure she was just trying to make sure he wasn't worried. After all, he knew how recently she had gotten the injury and there was no way to heal that quickly unless she was healed by magic. He knew all too well that fact, as the shield for Ladybug he had rapidly learned that injuries healed quickly due to the power of the kwamis.

He held out his arm to her now.

'Nonetheless, Princess, I would be honoured to escort you to that chair over there.' He purrrred at her.

Marinette snorted but held out her hand haughtily.

'You may escort me.'

They giggled over their fake snootiness as they stalked over to the chairs and sat down, Chat even going so far as to pull the chair out for her.

'I feel flattered to have a visit from a superhero such as yourself.' Marinette said to him, battering her eyelids at him in an exaggerated stereotype of the girly characters from superhero movies. Chat played along, leaning back in the chair and putting his hands behind his head.

'You know us heroes, never too busy to spare time for you civilians.' He said smugly.

'Oh of course, such generosity. So humble.' Marinette laughed.

Chat looked past her into her room, noticing the boxes of materials and equipment lying on her desk. He realised it would be a fun opportunity to find out how Nathaniel was progressing with Marinette. What could be more subtle than a superhero wingman?

He indicated the stuff in her room.

'Looks like you've been working on something in there?'

Marinette looked at where he was pointing.

'I was teaching Nathaniel sewing stuff. It was pretty fun, and I've been a little re-inspired by revising my old notebooks again with him.'

'Nathaniel, huh? A friend? A boyfriend?' He winked at her.

Marinette laughed it off.

'No way, just a friend. He even found a picture of the guy I like in my room! So there's no way that there'll be anything more.'

Chat masked his surprise behind his...mask. He knew that Marinette had liked someone, but not that she was the type of girl to leave photos of the guy around her room.

'You have photos of him just lying around?' He asked her in surprise.

'No, not exactly. He's, um, you know, a celebrity, so there are posters. It's not that weird!'

'You have a crush on a celebrity? Don't you know that's never going to work out?' Chat teased her, then instantly regretted it as hurt flashed across her face. 'I'm sorry. I know I'm not one to talk, at least you know who this guy is. I don't know anything about Ladybug.'

Marinette looked down at the floor.

'It's ok Chat. I know you didn't mean it.'

Chat was going to say more, then his alarm went off on his baton to signal it was time to meet Ladybug.

'Sorry to leave you Princess, but it's time for me to meet up with Ladybug now.'

Marinette nodded, standing up and walking towards her room again.

'See you later Chat.'


End file.
